— An article by Velroy Anthony
The very first National Beach Soccer Championship will be held in Surat, Gujarat, in 2023.
While greeting teams to the tournament, Beach Soccer Committee Chairperson Jignesh Patil stated that the committee was delighted by the excitement that saw 20 teams register for the event. After launching a new and revitalised version of the Santosh Trophy towards the end of last year, and with the second edition of the Futsal Championship likely to follow, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) continues to push football’s boundaries.
The inaugural National Beach Soccer Championship is starting in Surat, Gujarat, and it’s a momentous occasion for football fans and Indians since it’s the first time beach soccer has entered the professional ranks and has the potential to produce a large number of talented players who can play professionally. Three basic forms of football may typically be played on three distinct surfaces: standard football, which is played on grass and requires 11 players from each side, futsal, which is played on a hard surface like concrete or wooden surface and only requires five players from each team, and beach football, which is played on sand and only five players from each team.
A variation of association football played on a beach or other sand surface is known as beach soccer, sometimes known as beach football, sand football, or beasal. Beach soccer was created to formalise the game’s regulations, although football has long been played impromptu on beaches. The founders of Beach Soccer Worldwide, a business set up to grow the sport and responsible for the bulk of its competitions, did this in 1992. A flat, sandy area that is smaller than a typical association football surface serves as a beach soccer field. The field is cleansed of stones and seashells, as well as any other things that might cause injury to a player. Each squad consists of five players, including the goalie, and an infinite number of substitutes from a pool of three to five players. With throw-ins and kick-ins, the game may go at a quicker speed than traditional football. Shoes and socks are not permitted; players must play barefoot, except for ankle protectors.
With the way football is being exposed, such as training players from the grassroots level to the professional level and exposing them to different levels of footballing methods, strategies, and tactics, India is going toward becoming what many experts and players regard to be the sleeping country in the sport of football. One day, India is bound to be competing against the footballing world’s titans.
